Murder Can Haunt Your Handiwork

Rising up against the beautiful backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Biltmore Estate is a magnificent mansion in Asheville, North Carolina, built as a summer home for George Washington Vanderbilt II, yes, of those Vanderbilts, during the Gilded Age. Nowadays, it’s the site of an annual craft fair. Unfortunately, it’s also about to become a crime scene.

Celeste is hard to miss as she pulls up with her pink and white Shasta trailer and adorable Chihuahua, Van Gogh, Van for short. But before she can show off her artwork at the fair, a tour guide is found strangled by a velvet rope barrier, and a valuable painting goes missing. With a rogues’ gallery of sketchy suspects, Celeste welcomes the help of a pair of handsome detectives and a ghost with a special interest in the case.

Series: A Haunted Craft Fair Mystery Book 3
Author: Rose Pressey
Genre/Catagory: Cozy – Ghost/Paranormal
Publisher: Kensington Books
Page Count: 256

Rating:

I don’t enjoy giving a bad review for a series or an author. In this case, even more so than usual, but… Rose Pressey is a good writer, I have never doubted this, but there are certain issues in cozy books, really any fiction book, that I find difficult to get past or enjoy. Unfortunately, Murder Can Haunt Your Handiwork has them all. The paranormal aspects of this series started as creative and original. I was never certain it was sustainable due to how hard it would be to change the central theme. The main character, Celeste, isn’t exactly a model heroine, and it’s hard to like her. But I wanted to give the series the benefit of the doubt. I am sad to say that I am disappointed.

I know it is hard to develop a new plot when dealing with paranormal subjects of this nature. Painting a portrait and having the ghost appear and start talking to you, and keep the story fresh and exciting would be no easy feat. However, I hadn’t counted on this series becoming so formulaic. It’s as if all the author is doing is changing the ghost’s name, maybe the sex as well, and the location. Other than this, it’s the same exact story over and over. But at least with the first two books, all the questions brought up were answered by the end, and the reader could smile and not feel as if they wasted their time. I can’t say that with this third installment. Not only did we never find out why the ghost appeared other than he needed to, but we also didn’t find out how he died or anything else about his background. In the end, we were left with more questions than answers. I am also not a fan of love triangles. I understand they have a place in a story, but they are usually resolved by the second book. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this will happen even in the fourth book unless something drastic occurs.

The killer was predictable and easy to recognize. The motive just as easy to figure out, and most of the suspects, there weren’t that many to pick from, really weren’t viable. Only one suspect honestly had the opportunity to commit the crime if the evidence presented was followed to its logical conclusion. Not to mention that there truly was no police investigation worth noting. The ghost was somewhat entertaining as he followed the main character around and learned about all the innovations that hadn’t been around when he was alive, such as cell phones. This installment seemed to miss most of the paranormal aspects that made it enjoyable in the beginning. I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy Murder Can Haunt Your Handiwork; I found it tedious, the characters dull and predictable, and the plot tired. All of this aside, I still have hope that the author will surprise me with this series and give me something to smile about again.

Other paranormal/ghost based cozies readers may enjoy are Juliet Blackwell’s highly entertaining “Haunted Home Renovation” or E. J. Copperman’s action-packed “A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery”.

About the Author:

Rose Pressey is a USA Today bestselling author. She enjoys writing quirky and fun novels with a paranormal twist. When she’s not writing about ghosts and other supernatural creatures, she loves eating cupcakes with sprinkles, reading, spending time with family, and listening to oldies from the fifties. Rose lives near Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband, son, and three sassy Chihuahuas.